Le Pont du Nord (1981)

  'Le Pont du Nord' is a 1981 French film directed by Jacques Rivette.

  Set on the streets of Paris, Marie an ex-convict, meets Baptise randomly on the streets three times. After this they become friends as "Once is accident, twice is chance, three times is fate". They travel the streets together as they follow a map, which they believe is a conspiracy, stolen from Marie's ex-boyfriend. Baptise has a tendency to stab out the eyes of posters and is a karate expert, but during the film they become good friends.

  'Celine and Julie go Boating' was my last Rivette film, which I hated. I wanted to watch another of his films, as I didn't understand the whole Rivette experience, and he currently has alzheimer's. Part of the late French New Wave, Rivette is a film-maker which critics and pretentious film snobs have been applauding, so when I blind bought this on bluray for a tenner. Even if it's one of his lesser films, it's a vast improvement on 'Celine and Julie go Boating'.

  With Rivette films, there is no way of predicting what may occur. Events occur randomly and have little to do with what happened before. The downfall of this film is that none of it makes any sense. There is a faint thread of a plot, but most of the story and characters I would consider to be 'stupid'. Even at two hours the film feels overlong, and the dialogue is well written, but feels like ramblings pursued by ramblings. This was the main criticism of 'Celine and Julie go Boating', and it's a shame to see it return. It's not all bad...

 Set entirely outside, the gorgeously shot cinematography is the best part of the film. Even if you don't like the film, you can admire 'Le Pont du Nord' purely for it's looks. The 80s set Paris is being half built and half destroyed, with some interesting scenes in 'new' Paris by the Arc de Triomphe and in the 'old' Paris with derelict train tracks. The tall building work well for the film, making Paris seem like a grand and alienating place. The memorable and vivid colour of the sky is due to the whole film being shot during the hours approaching sunset (I assume).

  The film stars Rivette muse Bulle Ogier, and her daughter Pascale Ogier. At the beginning I thought they were lesbians (sleeping on park benches together), an easy mistake to make. What is really tragic, is that Pascale died soon after making the film at the age of 24. For a inane script she acted well and unpretentiously.

TO CONCLUDE
I dislike it as much as I adore it. A memorable, and very strange, journey.

SCORE
67